Blown for Good - Marc Morgan Headley [21]
The Estates Project Force was a tightly and heavily supervised activity. I was introduced to the EPF In-Charge. This “I/C” was the person over the whole operation. He had a guy that worked for him that was the Deputy In-Charge. There were several different Units within the Estates Project Force. Each Unit had their own I/C’s and each person on the EPF reported up to their individual I/C who then reported up to the next guy and so on. I thought I was going to do some courses, I did not know there needed to be such a strict organizational structure to do some simple courses.
Turns out that most of the structure was for the work that was to be done outside of the course room. The EPF were given crappy jobs that no one else wanted to do. MEST work is what they called it. MEST stood for Matter, Energy, Space and Time. Any type of work that occurred outside of your head was MEST work. Sea Org members had to be cause over MEST in order to get the planet cleared. So the EPF was half MEST work and half study. Studying was over for the day when I arrived, so I got to learn about what MEST work I would be doing.
We were to run everywhere we went. We sort of double-timed while in a group. We were not to be seen or heard hanging around or goofing off for any reason whatsoever. We were not to speak unless spoken to and we were told to do our work and study until we were done and then we would get assigned to our post if we passed the Fitness Board at the end of the Estates Project Force.
Cleaning dumpsters, taking out trash, doing dishes, hauling stuff, mopping floors, you know, stuff most people would have someone else do if they had the option. Well the EPF was the option for the local Sea Org staff that worked at the Complex. We would do all their dirty work and be happy doing it.
Since study time was over, I got to start with the work portion of the EPF. I was assigned to a unit that was working in the galley. The galley was the part of the Complex that I logged as the filthiest place on earth. The galley, or kitchen as everyone else on land normally called it, stank, and regardless of when I went in there over the next 15 years, it always smelled like rotten ass. So of course, that is where I got to do my EPF.
We had the job of doing the dishes after the hundreds of crew members came through and ate any one of the four meals that were served there each day. After all the dishes were done, we would get the next meal set up and have everything in place before the rush of people came back in. If you were lucky, you would get dishes or clean-up; the one job you did not want to get in the galley was “potland.” Potland was an overflowing mountain of dirty pots that never diminished no matter how many people were assigned to clean them. The pots usually had nasty smelly things stuck to them, and they did not clean easily.
Now, I had never worked in food service before, but I knew that some things being done were not up to five-star qualities. One of the girls in the same unit as me, Heather Ashworth, was about eight years old. She was rather tiny, too small to stand next to the sink and wash pots—so she was in the sink washing the pots! Standing in the water with a scrub brush in hand cleaning the pots. I had never seen anything like it.
Never once did I see a single hair net, gloves or any kind of smock. Everyone had their standard issue blue shorts and t-shirts with their worn out black combat boots.
After spending the rest of the night in the galley, it was time for bed. As explained to me by my In-Charge, Bill, the EPF got to go to bed early so that study could be done in the morning, before a long day’s work. So we would be able to secure at 10:00 p.m. and be up at 6:30!